Game of Cat and Mouse
by Asuka Kimi
Summary: Part 1.5 of Transmission series. Kaiba was suckered into letting Yuugi and the gang help finding a rat in his newest VR game. But catching the rat is not the only problem he has to deal with.


****Yugioh © Takahashi Kazuki****

* * *

Author's Note for Japanese and non-Japanese terms usage in the story:

 _ **Moe**_ 萌え. Actually there is no English word equivalents to its Japanese meaning. But I found this explanation is nearest to the meaning of _Moe_.

 _[Moe is when your heart gets a boner._

 _Moe is a personal feeling, thus you could find whatever you want moe. Generally, it describes an infatuation with a girlish kind of cuteness however. The girl doesn't necessarily have to be a child however, it can also apply to a teenager or rarely even an adult, e.g. the deredere moments of a tsundere character for example._

 _The word cute captures an aspect of it, but cute doesn't necessarily imply moe, while moe almost always implies cute._

 _From Urban Dictionary]_

Wikipedia also provides some insights on _Moe_ but too educational for my taste. A more simpler information and relax reading but still convey the right meaning is what I am looking for.

 _ **Dorobo**_ 泥棒. Literally means _burglar_. A serious lost in translation can occur if this word is used with "Neko" (means _Cat_ ). While _Dorobo Neko_ could mean _cat burglar_ , a real cat that steals your food (for example, the fishes in your kitchen), _Dorobo Neko_ also means a person who steals other person's lover/husband/boyfriend. In this story, _Nyan-dorobo the Kaito Cat_ AI character is a Phantom Thief, _Nyan-dorobo_ is her name. She will not be mentioned much and not having any major role but a filler character that was actually a cat-ear ( _nekomimi_ ) version of Black Magician Girl.

 _ **Fabulous Max**_. A very popular term in "Mawaru Penguindrum" anime. I don't think it makes any sense in English. Some people said they followed the anime till the end in hope of finding out what it means. It's actually as literally as it is. An extremely wonderful thing at its maximum.

All character names are from the Japanese version of the series. Pharaoh Atem's name in _romaji_ is _"Atemu"_.

* * *

 **Part 1/2**

* * *

"It's unfair!" Jounouchi shouted, pointed his finger at Kaiba, or more correctly, his character that looked like him with knee-length brunette hair, in a Hell Dragon gear set and riding an extremely overpower-looking Blue Eyes White Dragon. "Why do you have dragon mount?! Why do you have high-end gears?! And why the hell Atemu-kun has cat ears _and_ mini-angel-demon wings?!" The last part was accompanied with even higher pitch of his voice as if doing that would make the unimpressed CEO before him giving any kind of answer, especially the part about Atemu.

"Because I am. And he's the King of Winged Cat AI. Do you hear Winged Cat?" Kaiba sneered, leaving no more doubt that he thought Jounouchi was completely brain dead. "If you read the instruction during character creation phase carefully, you would know there is the Winged Cat race of magician type."

"Actually," Atemu coughed, feeling more than a little self-conscious at his own in-game appearance, "To unlock this race you have to pass the quest of _Nyan-dorobo the Kaito Cat_. After doing her quest she will give you a special item, which lets you try out this race for a limit time. To continue playing it you will need Vial of Oblivi-nyan then talk with the Cat King AI in Greow-Meow Castle and he will let you become one of his people… means changing your main character's race."

"Be honored our NED is very patient with peasants. No wonder why the Vial could only buy via Auction House or use high-end gears to solo Master Course because everyone wants to play Winged Cat." Kaiba quipped haughtily, still perching on his dragon and looking down at the group beneath him.

"Who are you calling peasant?! Get down here, Kaiba!" Jounouchi screeched, stomped his foot and shook his fist at Kaiba.

Ignored them, Atemu turned to Yuugi with an apologetic smile. Unlike Atemu's AI type character, Yuugi was an actual player. Atemu led the group toward the nearest town so his friends could get the things they needed in preparation for their upcoming raid run, "Sorry about the trouble, everyone. We've checked the database time and again but couldn't find anything amiss. There is high possibility someone had managed to bypass our hackshield and bot detector based on several different records or…" Atemu trailed off, he wouldn't want any more talking about the other possibilities he had already discussed with Kaiba and Mokuba.

Yuugi shook his head, his eyes shined with excitement, "It's okay! I can't wait to play with the real you instead of normal AI!" Yuugi bounced where he stood and flapped his small wings eagerly.

"Aibou…" Cold sweat dropped down Atemu's nape. He didn't know if he should start sobbing or feel grateful about his Aibou's hidden meaning in the comment…

Conveniently, Jounouchi had picked Dragon Warrior class without reading "Evolve" feature's description, so he had no idea he would end up being the Dragon Lord AI's follower. Said Dragon Lord AI's origin was none other than reigning Devil Lord of Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba Seto. Well, talked about ace from Duel Monsters to KaibaCorp's newest Virtual Reality game, these two managed to end up with something that somehow related to each other…

Honda and Ryo had chosen Hunter class and Anzu was Sorceress of Human race without passing Evolve stage. Anzu just didn't like having her images altered too much but already having second thought at some points when Yuugi changed to Winged Cat from his starter Human race as Warlock. Honda because he thought it looked cool, later realized that was his big mistake but still playing to keep face; in fact he didn't have enough currency to change into other class. And Ryo because the description said, "Most likely get free food all the time."

"We will keep watch on your characters' activities. If something happens or you think something is not right, contact us immediately via live customer support system, alright?" Atemu cautioned them all, well most, because Jounouchi was still busy having one-side argument with Kaiba.

"Aye!" Yuugi, Anzu, Honda and Ryo said simultaneously.

"We will wait for you guys at the portal. When you are ready to go, Yuugi can teleport everyone to me. Or Jounouchi-kun's—" Atemu cut himself off with a chuckle that he didn't do a good job at hiding behind his hand, and got the group to look at him expectantly. "Nothing. You will know when the time comes." Atemu winked secretly at them, but the corner of his mouth twitched up from time to time in suppressing his laughter.

But anyway, because Atemu looked cute and handsome, mysterious and friendly, petite and powerful at the same time, they enjoyed the eye candy more than listening to his instruction even if they should.

And so the two AI-in-person left the group of friends on their own device and went off to their meeting point first. Well, Atemu tried to… because Seto wouldn't budge before he got his reward kiss for enduring Jounouchi in more than five minutes.

"Seto!" Atemu laughed and squirmed in the Dragon Lord's arms. The way Seto was nuzzling his neck brushed against too many of his sensitive spots and it was tickle!

"No. We are going nowhere until I have my full to last me another half hour with the peasant." Seto announced with finality.

"Mokuba and the others are watching!" Even when he said it, Atemu didn't make any move to get Seto's wandering fingers off his person.

"They know when to look away, don't worry." Seto assured him—

 _"But Nii-sama! We can be even richer if I sell the screenshots of you two like this to the game's hardcore-fans before editing them for advertising on the official site! Atemu, please tilt your head a little to the right, I need better camera angle! Nii-sama, can you make it so that you are going to bite his neck? YES! Like that and DON'T MOVE!"_ Mokuba's voiced squealed from their hidden ear pieces.

Atemu groaned. These two were going to be the death of him!

"He would get none of his cameras in the bedroom. Because only my lenses are allowed there." Seto murmured against Atemu's throat then kissed the soft tan skin.

Atemu threaded his fingers in long brunette hair and guided the brunette head up at the same time he dipped his head, connected their lips. Virtual sensation was nowhere as intense compared to the real one and only urged them to go back to the real world to make up for this. But, being who they were, the two quickly had their teenage hormone under control and disengaged themselves. If they got this over and done with as soon as possible, the rest could be arranged.

"Shall we?" Seto asked, the white dragon raised his head and stood up from his resting position on the ground, having nothing better thing to do when his master was too occupied to properly give him any order.

Atemu nodded, Seto put one hand around the back of his shoulders, the other under his knees to lift him up and leaped on his dragon's back in time the mount took fly.

"I can fly too, you know?" Atemu whispered in Seto's ear. The strong wind blowing at their faces caused no trouble for their hearing.

"I know," Seto looked at the person in his arms with a rare smile, "I like it this way."

"Because my character is about to be captured in this chapter?" Atemu smiled back, brushing his lover's cheek with the back of his fingers.

"I would let none of it happen to you." If possible Seto tightened his grip on Atemu more to prove his point.

"It's only in the game, Seto," Atemu leaned up to press a placating kiss on the pale chin, "We have already known everything will be alright by the end of the next chapter."

"It's better if we catch the rat before I have to play to that part again." Seto closed his eyes to dispel that screen play from his mind. It was futile because it was he, Atemu and Mokuba came up with the main story plot and directed that one particular scene themselves.

The dragon landed on a wasted land before a floating orb of red aura curling around its center which they dubbed as a "Portal", the dragon wings beat several time, disturbing the humid air with strong flaps and blew dust everywhere. Just as Seto jumped down from his dragon's back still carried Atemu in his arms, another light looked like shooting star flying toward them and disembarked gracelessly on the ground behind, creating more dust flying around that would cause a serious lungs collapse if this was not a game.

"Looks like the peasant has come." Seto put Atemu down, crossed his arms and snorted rudely.

"Kaiba! You bastard! Who are you calling peasant!" That was unmistakable Jounouchi's voice before the blond emerged from the dust and got in Kaiba's personal space to start another one-side argument with him.

"Let's form a party and get started." Atemu opened a group feature and send party invitations to everyone, knowing Kaiba wouldn't bother himself with it. The CEO would simply do it and expected everyone to follow him without question. Hence Dragon Warrior race players were also called "Dragon followers" since the AI's personality and speech pattern were not that far different from its origin.

They all stepped through the first portal with Atemu and Kaiba leading the group as protocol of main storyline. However in their case, instead of the two AIs, their group had the advantage of real persons accompany them instead.

"My and Seto's character will only attack mini-bosses to divert them from your group and big-bad-bosses only appear when you all take down a certain number of mobs by yourselves. So be sure to stay within healing spell's range always and let Jounouchi-kun agro them before attacking, otherwise they will aim healer first and in this case, Anzu." Atemu made a face, "You don't want that happens is all I can let you know. As for Yuugi, his character can get a decent healing spell working but he won't be able to concentrate in attacking then, and he is extremely squishy to balance out his high damage dealing skill set. Having nine lives won't change the race's low defense and hit point much. I trust him to know what he's doing." If someone looked at Seto, they would have seen one of his eye twitched at Atemu's remark. Nearest to the CEO was Jounouchi but he was too busy puffing his chest, proud of himself for playing such an important role to notice any change in Kaiba's demeanor.

"And don't forget to loot. Due to the difficulty and main quest's hidden objectives can only be done in Time-limit Hell Course, the loots are extremely good for Auction House later if you don't want to use them." Atemu explained.

"No wonder I couldn't unlock anything even solo Master Course." Yuugi pouted. It was as far as he could do playing alone. While the awesome powerful AIs were a great help in passing the highest difficulty course, player's limitation wouldn't miraculously revive them every time he or she got mobbed away from those two. But he wasn't really complaining because he had made a lot of game currency auctioning all the Vials of Oblivi-nyan he got.

"This course is not meant to be playing solo, Aibou." Atemu chuckled and ruffled the shorter one's head, making Yuugi playfully pawed at his hand while making cat noises using his character's special expressions.

To the on-lookers they were like mischievous siblings or… father and son.

Seto shook his head at the mental comparison. His lover was good with kids. Even Mokuba was on his side. This characteristic was also implemented in the AI and that got population of Winged Cat players skyrocketed even if the price to change race was ridiculously high. He tapped on the hidden earphone to contact his brother, "Mokuba, we are good to go. I'm counting on you."

"I'm ready here too, Nii-sama! Atemu!" Mokuba said eagerly into his intercom. He couldn't wait to see them in action. The last time those two played was when this chapter had been going through test phase and there were too many bugs and glitches to take care of to fully enjoy the game.

"Alright," Atemu announced, "Open in 3, 2 ,1! Go!"

The highschoolers let out a battle cry while running through the second portal before a large stone gate and disappeared inside with a flash of light.

"This is darker than Normal Course and… more intimidating!" Jounouchi yelled excitedly.

"Are you going mute not open your mouth in less than one minute, peasant?" Kaiba groused from where he stood close to Atemu. His remark got Jounouchi sputtered and ready to start another verbal war.

"Seto." Atemu reprimanded the moody CEO, but there was no warning in his tone. He turned to Yuugi. "Aibou, you would want to remember these combinations. It will help you later."

"Huh?" Yuugi tilted his head, he thought he knew all about his character already and there was more? Nice! "Okay!"

Seeing the eager look on Yuugi's face, Atemu elaborated with a wink, "This will only work with a Dragon Warrior player because of their alliance from the main storyline. Both players need to pass the "Reluctant Bond" quest to be able to make it works. I know you have already unlocked most of Winged Cat's skill set minus two hidden ones. It's the last two blank pages in the skill book that got people think nothing of it."

"Great!" Yuugi bounced in his feet, wanting to try it as soon as he learned the move.

"You would want to find a better Dragon follower, Yuugi. I doubt the peasant here can do his part right!" Kaiba jabbed.

"Just you wait and see, Kaiba! I will learn it sooner than you!" Jounouchi vowed heatedly, pointing a finger dramatically at Kaiba's poker face.

Kaiba rolled his eyes, wondered if the blond even remembered he was one of the Game Managers. It was a good time saving when Atemu pushed him toward the large stone gate. "Come on, counter will start once we pass the gate. I want to get this done, the sooner the better." Atemu whispered suggestively in Kaiba's ear. The CEO couldn't be more agree with him.

"Alright, minions!" Kaiba declared and looked down at the rest with Atemu by his side, who cringed visibly but said nothing because it was the AI's lines in main storyline, basically a morale boosting speech and a threat of just drop dead where they were if they ignored the orders to do their own things. He was going to eat his own words by the end of this chapter.

Everyone exhaled in relief once Kaiba was done. Oh Gods, this man was intimidating and sarcastically cruel from the real world into his game.

Without saying another word, Kaiba charged with Atemu hot on his tail.

"Hey," Jounouchi scratched the back of his head, "Didn't Atemu say we let a Dragon Warrior player to agro first before attacking? If he moves in the same pace as Kaiba's, won't it turn out he would be attacked all the same?"

As soon as Jounouchi voiced his question, Kaiba rammed his fists on the ground, the shockwave split a group of coming mobs in half, creating a clear passageway for Atemu to extend his miniature wings into a life size pair, one bat-like demon wing and the other pristine angel wing, and shot toward the end of the made-shift path before the mobs closed down on them and pouring in faster and increasing in number.

"Atemu!" The group exclaimed in horror and charged but they were halted by Kaiba swinging his hand out to stop them from proceeding further.

"Watch." Ordered Kaiba. In his hand, a black orb materialized and they quickly realized it was a signature high-end move of the Dragon Warrior class that was a powerful Area of Effect. But—

"The mobs are still too far away to use this skill!" Jounouchi thundered, too panic because he couldn't see Atemu anymore.

Kaiba snorted and disappeared from where he stood. The group didn't know what had happened before a loud explosion erupted from the direction they last seen Atemu, signalized Kaiba had released his blast. There, they saw Kaiba and an unharmed Atemu standing back to back with dead mobs scattering around and next to where they were, one mini-boss laying facedown before it disappeared to reveal the loots.

"So overpower-nyan~!" The Cat King AI purred, curling his paws on the lower part of his cheeks in a water-down cat face, batting his eyelashes at the Dragon Lord. Followed storyline, the Dragon Lord AI flushed from being charmed by Cat's candy or as fans put it, _moe_ overdosed.

And they headed off to the next mini-boss.

"So embarrassing." Atemu muttered, feeling a small amount of humiliation at his character's behavior.

Seto said nothing. In his mind he was forming several plans to bolt the moment his VR pod opened and hid somewhere to wipe off the nosebleed would be pouring about now from his real body. Due to their height different, he had longer legs than Atemu's, so he could outrun his worry hen lover at any day. Perfect escape.

"Oh my God! Did you see that?" Anzu squealed with starry eyes, standing in the center of her friends because Atemu said they had to protect their healer. So she was free to watch everything that was happening around her, and obviously, included that little act of Atemu's character. "He is so cute! I hope I will get the Vial to change my race now!"

Anzu didn't see Yuugi's violet eyes flashed.

New potential competitor for Cat Atemu's attention appeared. Female. Had to prevent her from looting the Vial no matter what.

"That is very risky." Yuugi turned to Jounouchi. "To be able to use ally teleportation I have to switch off battle mode. While dodging mobs' attacks like that, I also have to choose a good spot to move you to me so your skill will hit as many as it can. You have to time your attack right. If by the instant you are teleported and your blast is not released, your skill will get canceled by mobs' attacks and we are going to be flooded because that skill takes forever to get off cool down. I think Atemu had stood right behind the boss, that's the only spot enables Kaiba to hit both parties."

"We won't know until we try!" Jounouchi said excitedly, pumping his fist in the air. That was so cool! As expected of their former Pharaoh!

And so they continued cleaning after the destruction Kaiba and Atemu left behind… with Yuugi's character lost several cat lives because Jounouchi messed up his timing one after another. There was even no mini-boss during their practice.

"What's taking them so long?" Arms crossed and scowling, Kaiba huffed impatiently in front of the portal to the next stage.

"Looting. We know there are many good loots in this course. The Hell Course's Dice Rolling system will choose randomly four items of equal value from the bosses' final drop and only allow them to pick one. So players have to choose what they want and leave the rest. Another reason for it is to force them wasting time here too in cases like this."

 _"And making them want to go back here again! Stamina cost for one run is hellish that make people buy refill from the market always! Because there is a limit of how many times you can run this course per day so they don't want to miss a thing!"_ Mokuba helpfully supplied after Atemu.

"This is okay. I am enjoying myself." Atemu gently poked Seto's forehead. They could be viewed by players here so he wasn't going to show any higher level of their public display of affection.

Seto exhaled slowly, tempered down by Atemu's cajoling. "I want to get this over with."

Atemu, knowing why Seto was uncomfortable with proceeding, looked at his lover with softer eyes, "Seto, it's only a game."

"I know." Seto had the urge to hug Atemu and kept him close during the next part but that was not what his character could do.

"Sorry for the wait!" Yuugi jumped on Atemu's back, purring happily and nuzzled his neck as soon as he teleported his group to the waiting two.

Atemu only laughed at his Aibou's antic, "Got something good, Aibou?" And turned a blind eye on Yuugi sticking his tongue out at the glaring CEO. At least these two chose cold war instead of a more vocal one like Jounouchi's one-side and pointless argument with Kaiba.

Yuugi eagerly nodded his head with a big grin. Atemu raised an eyebrow. That expression could even rival if not more than Mokuba's most dangerous cackle. He'd better let it slide for now.

Behind the screen, Mokuba's shoulders shook, sniggering wickedly. He had been manipulating Yuugi's loots so all of his random choices would be available Vial of Oblivi-nyans in the area. The less people hogging Cat Atemu's affection, the better.

Behind him, Isono and Roland stood guarding dutifully, cold sweats downed their neck profusely. One devil Kaiba CEO, one devil Kaiba VP, one devil Mutou Duel King… what had they done in their previous lives to end up with so many big bad devils in this city?! BUT! One fabulous-max _darling beloved Atemu-sama_ , the King of _moe_ -Cats for a NED was more than enough to make up for it!

"Let's go." Kaiba grumbled and kicked down the gate before them none too gently, a little more exasperated than how his AI did and leaded them through a long cave.

"Any of you beside Yuugi had played beyond this part yet?" Atemu asked them over his shoulder, not minding Yuugi's head mostly obscured his sight.

They shook their heads no.

"Too hard." Jounouchi muttered under his breath, not wanting Kaiba to hear his reply.

"My character can't pass Basic Course." Anzu replied sheepishly.

Honda shrugged his shoulder and pointed his thumb at Jounouchi to indicate the same answer as their blond friend.

"I am planning to change to a better tank class to pass it. Then I will change again to Winged Cat whenever I get a Vial. After all I may have to spend twice the cost to change classes that way because I am unsure which race is better for my playing style." Ryo told Atemu.

Unknown to Ryo, Yuugi was going to give him one of his too many Vials by the end of their game play. Ryo was fine. He was too nice to be a serious competitor for Cat Atemu's affection.

"That's a very much unexpected event." Yuugi looked at the slippery ceiling, commented offhandedly. "I cried by the end of it the first time I passed this chapter!" He pouted and wriggled childishly on Atemu's back like a kid throwing tantrum as the ex-spirit carried him to their next destination.

"What?" Jounouchi blinked owlishly, "What happened?"

"You will know when it happens." Atemu told him with a secret smile.

"Aww, come on!" Jounouchi whined, "Just a little spoiler, pleeeeease!"

"You may cry." Was Yuugi's answer because Atemu had turned to look ahead.

* * *

"What the hell?!" Jounouchi exclaimed in bewilderment as a boss appeared behind their group out of the blue and swung his sword at it out of reflex but his attack managed to deal little to no damage against the beast. "Holy shit!" He yelled with wide eyes.

The Cat King AI noticed it and immediately rushed to their rescue. However, while Atemu's character was stalling for the group to escape without anyone to agro mobs nearby, the boss scored a hit at his left wing caused him to plummet into the ground with a loud crash.

Seeing his fellow leader get injured, this was the point Dragon Lord AI lost his cool and attacked whatever within range in blind rage. A certain meaty boss he blasted away crashed into a black and spiky pillar, causing Dark Matter to leak out, making everything it touched turned into dark skin and red eyes disembody projectiles shot everywhere and exploded upon contact. It was certain death if any player got plastered by the dark liquid or hit by the black projectiles.

Anzu screamed in horror at seeing a bunch of black dots flying toward them like broken hives. There was no way they could evade and worse that they were surrounded with nowhere to escape.

"This is it…" Jounouchi said dramatically in defeat then he tightened his grip on his weapon, preparing to charge. "Even if I am going to die, I am bringing them down with MEEEE!" And ran head first at his game over with a war cry.

Yuugi resisted the urge to roll his eyes, already got a spot for himself that would let him see the best part coming next.

When Jounouchi was about to be hit, a celestial transparent orb closed around them. Standing before Yuugi was Atemu's character. The Cat King's white feathers were disappearing one after another in tiny flecks of light and merged into the barrier shielding them against what chaos was happening outside.

"Atemu-kun!" Everyone but Yuugi exclaimed his name in relief.

Atemu's character turned to face the group, regarding each of them before zeroed his slit crimson eyes in Yuugi. He crouched to eye level with Yuugi on one knee and put his hands on the shorter one's shoulders, "You have done a good job in coming so far. I am sorry this was too much even for us. I'm afraid we have misunderstood our enemies." Atemu told them with a sardonic smile before he tilted his head to look at his rampaging fellow leader.

"What are you talking about? Aren't we gonna figure out what is messing with the game?" Jounouchi asked stupidly.

Ryo elbowed the blond. "Shh. This is the AI's lines."

"Oh, I see, I see." Jounouchi folded his arms and scratched his chin.

"I am taking all responsibilities for our miscalculation and the loss of our comrades in this battle. At the very least I will make sure you are safe and out of here." Then Atemu straightened up, turned his back on the group and took his battle stance.

"We are coming with you!" Jounouchi said after the huge moral boost from Atemu's reappearance.

Not even glance over his shoulder to look at the group, Atemu told them, "No. You are well protected inside the barrier and it will fly back to my castle as soon as I create a diversion."

"What are you talking about? We are going to escape together, right?" Jounouchi took a step toward him but was halted by Atemu's next words.

"I believe you will certainly surpass us. Protect the next generation is one of our duties. And…" The Cat King looked at the Dragon Lord with unreadable eyes, "I can't abandon my comrade." He lifted his head to gaze at the red moon above them. "Farewell, brave friends." And he disappeared.

"Wait—!" Anzu gasped. But Atemu was already halfway running to Kaiba's side.

"Rumor has it that his angel wing is divine protection, it creates the strongest holy barrier. His demon wing is a toxic that was of same element as what gave birth to Dark Matter, hence granted him the immunity to it." Yuugi said slowly as the orb sheltering them started floating away from the ground.

"What's going to happen to them?" Honda asked while watching the scene unfolded.

The Dragon Lord had yet to notice his coming doom as Dark Matter closing in on him at frightening rate, or the black blur that was the Cat King coming to him.

The Cat King raised a claw hand backward, took hold of his remaining demon wing and ripped it off his shoulder, biting his lower lip to hold in his cry of pain.

"ATEMU!" The group screamed, banging their fists and kicking at the barrier in hope of making a hole on it so they could come to their friend, excepted one. That was what Yuugi had died trying to do the first time. He got too carried away with the game and did the same thing, and knew it was futile. He had stopped the game to find Atemu in the real world immediately, only ceased his shaking and crying after seeing his guardian was still there and not going anywhere.

The demon wing materialized in a magnificent black demon sword, slit crimson eye in the center of the guard piece, a same but smaller eye at the center of the pommel. Fuller in form of blood veins ran the length of its double-edges. This demon sword was the monthly reward for only one person who got highest percentage of the Cat King's affection meter or whoever reached 100% first, which was impossible because the whole game server was offering gift to him; each time a person's affection percentage raised, everyone else dropped. By this time Yuugi and Mokuba already ranked first and second respectively because they had figured out the Cat King AI's most favorite gift (only known to Seto and Atemu), thus giving them highest advantage against other players.

Even with his speed, the Cat King couldn't be in time to save the other sovereign. If he switched off battle mode to use teleportation, he might put them both at risk from the flying things around them. But at least he had a way to save one of them, the Cat King threw his sword toward the Dragon Lord. As soon as the blade jammed on the ground, an invisible barrier was erected, circled around the Dragon Lord, saving Kaiba's character in the nick of time. Dark Matter was dispelled and purified the more it tried to move pass the barrier.

That same nick of time the Cat King got pierced through his chest by one of the wild black projectile.

Slit sapphire eyes widened, without thinking, the Dragon Lord mindlessly took the blade and ran toward his falling comrade. But before he could reach the other, Dark Matter covered Atemu's character from head to toe, materialized itself as a dark skin and crimson eyes Cat King look-alike, while holding the real one unconscious in his arms.

"I am supposed to kill the Dragon Lord, but who could have thought I have gotten an even better thing than his death?" Dark Matter laughed fiendishly at all the wide eyes onlookers, especially at the Dragon Lord who seemed very much in less than one second away from ripping the imitator in pieces.

"This will teach you a lesson in messing with our Dark Messiah! This world soon will fall under His Majesty's hand!" Dark Matter continued, looking down at the Dragon Lord and slowly fading into thin air. "Remember how you have been nothing back then, and now, still nothing." Was his parting words.

The Dragon Lord slammed the blade on the ground and released an animalistic howl that put a crack on the flying barrier as strong pressure of the sound wave destroyed every last bit of the black projectiles around him.

Above him, Anzu buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Honda and Ryo had turned their heads from the scene, eyes shut tightly. Jounouchi faced away from them and kicked randomly at one spot in anger. The orb finally started flying back to the Castle. Their last glimpse of Kaiba's character was his dragon flying down and curled itself around him. Before his silhouette was completely covered under shadow of the dragon wings, all players got to catch sight of a lone tear flowing down one side of his cheek and the shimmering of his gritting fangs to scream his fury in red moonlight.

"You are back!" Nyan-dorobo the Kaito Cat AI greeted them at the castle, whose character design very much resembled a certain High Priestess Mana they had met in the Memory World. She ran around the group and looked them over, then she turned to Yuugi expectantly. "Where is my King?" Asked the cat girl innocently.

The group swallowed hard, unable to tell her the truth.

"We lost him." The Dragon Lord answered for them as he walked in the Grand Hall, shadow covered his eyes, a familiar demon sword secured at his side by his belt.

"What are you talking about?!" The girl turned to yell at the Dragon Lord before running toward him. "You are a liar! I know all dragons are bad! They _are_ bad! But my King believes them! Give him back! Give him back!" The girl slammed her fists repeatedly against the motionless Lord's chest. She was in too much grief to cause serious damage, tears rolled down her cheeks profusely.

That only caused Anzu to cover her mouth with her hands, dropped to her knees and started crying again.

Ignored the wailing girl, Kaiba turned to the group with hard eyes. "We are done here. It's time to go back." He tapped once on his ear piece, "Mokuba, prepare to open the pods."

 _"Roger."_ Mokuba replied.

As soon as they were back to the real world, Jounouchi ran from his room toward the main control room, the rest followed after him.

"Atemu-kun!" The blond kicked down the door and barged in.

Atemu and Mokuba turned to look at them with no amount of surprise. Atemu braced himself for Anzu running toward him and hugged him tightly, babbling incoherently that all could still be heard was "I'm glad!" and "Thanks Goddess!"

Ryo exhaled the breath he had been holding.

"You are… alright…" Honda said in relief.

"Of course he is," Mokuba raised an eyebrow, "It's just a game."

"Right," Jounouchi nodded to himself in self-assurance, "Right."

Yuugi looked around the room for a certain missing person, "Where is Kaiba?"

"He's in another room." Mokuba told them vaguely.

"Since you are in Kaiba Land, how about enjoying yourself for the rest of your stay? But first let's head out for lunch. I think Mokuba is starving." Atemu suggested.

Mokuba caught the hint and blinked, "Yeah. Let's go. Are you coming with us, Atemu?"

Atemu shook his head no, "I will stay with Seto to help him reviewing the data and making sure he eats his lunch during lunch time."

"Oh, alright." Mokuba pursed his lips. He really wanted to stay too but Atemu wanted him to have fun with his friends. Besides, he was not sure if he could help much loitering around.

Atemu waved them off with a smile. The group bid him goodbye then filled out after Mokuba and Yuugi.

As soon as they were out of sight, Atemu's smile disappeared and he turned toward the monitoring screens with a frown. "Isono, Roland, would you please secretly follow them and keep an eye on Mokuba." He might start as a request but all ears listening knew it was actually an order in disguise. "And stop him from consuming too much sugar."

"Yes, sir." The two bodyguards bowed and left to do their job.

To the other employees working nonstop on their keyboards in the room, he said, "I am leaving the rest to you. Please contact the chairman immediately if there is any abnormal occurrence. Don't ignore smallest detail that comes to your attention."

"Yes, sir." The workers answered.

That done, Atemu went off to find his elusive lover. He didn't have to look, though, there were not many places Kaiba would hole himself in. And he could always use the GPS. Calling Seto was not a recommended method when he wanted to be alone.

Seto was standing in his office next to the entrance way, knowing where Atemu would check first. He caught Atemu's wrist to pull him close as soon as his lover walked pass the door and held him in place. Atemu stood still, raised his left hand to touch the person behind him. Tan fingers ran in brunette hair soothingly.

"Promise me you will step on my dead body and live on." Kaiba whispered against the side of Atemu's neck, where his pulse was beating steadily.

Atemu leaned his head on Seto's shoulder with a smile, "I promise if I can't save your life, we will die together."

"I am not the one who died before his sixteenth birthday, _Pharaoh Atem_."

"Stop acting like I am going to die on you, Kaiba Seto."

"You have martyr tendency, I have to be precautious."

"You are being unreasonably difficult. I am here, am I not?"

A grin made itself visible on the corner of Seto's mouth, hidden behind honey neck where Atemu couldn't see but feel it clearly. "I don't believe you. Let me strip you and analyze that theory by myself." Said the CEO, kissing his way up from the quickening pulse and gave a good suck below the Pharaoh's ear.

"How romantic." Atemu laughed but he let Kaiba carry him like a newlywed to the recent renovated penthouse suite of the office building.

TBC.

* * *

This story has two chapters. You have done reading the first one.

This story can be a stand alone or if you have read my other story, "Win back the Pharaoh", you may view it as something happens in the very near future of that story. This actually is a side story about an event happened before the main event of the sequel story will be posted after I put the [Completed] mark on the first part.


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